Users of video cassette recorders (VCRs) and digital video recorders (DVRs) often use the “fast-forward” function to skip commercials, or simply to move past selected scenes of a given previously-recorded program. In the case of skipping commercials, a user might watch the screen for signs that the normal program is resuming (e.g. a large “TV-PG” might appear at the upper left hand side of the screen) and then press a PLAY key (on, e.g. a remote control device) to resume normal play speed. However, due to a typical user's response time and eye-hand coordination, by the time the user actually presses the PLAY key and the VCR or DVR responds to that command, the actual resumed play point is often several seconds past the point that was intended. This phenomenon is generally referred to as fast forward “overshoot.”
When overshoot occurs, a user might then press a rewind key to move back in time to the originally-intended point in the programming, only to overshoot in the opposite direction. In such a case, a user is forced to watch a portion of the programming/commercial in which he has no interest, or he might again attempt a fast forward operation, which again might result in the original overshoot problem.